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Yet another DE

07-19-2013, 08:41 PM

So been a year another DE.....A complete new guy....

First DE great guy long timer.
Second DE was the SE's all star......Guess he didn't realize that one of our districts SM's owned the golf course he was using when he was supposed to be working.
Third DE, never got a chance to meet this one.
Fourth DE, Numbers guy, this is the guy that called me when I was CM and told me I had to make up our Packs FOS short fall.....He got promoted.
Fifth.....Brand New DE......made it less than a year, no idea of his destination. I did meet him a couple of times......Seemed nice enough. oh well
Sixth......Brand New DE....Not met him yet, just received an email saying five was going away welcoming number 6.

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Number four: did you laugh at him when he told you about the FOS shortfall, or.....was there some other response? Please don't tell me you hopped to it and chummed up that money.

Ours have lasted longer. The first was about as thoughtful as a used condom. He's the reason (I was CM at the time) that DEs were invited never to attend another pack event. I guess word got around about him so he was replaced with a really nice guy. I liked him and he really wanted to help. He just didn't. The next one was about as smart as a really intelligent bucket of nails. Complete zero. Of course, this means he was promoted up the line. The next guy was ex-military so he understood chain of command. Unfortunately he didn't understand calendars or deadlines. I gave up hope for a DE that was actually an asset to the unit.

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As a former DE for five years in the same council and for the same two districts I can tell you that the re-shifting of priorities by National for the DE has led many of the good ones to abandon ship and take on a more regular job with realistic and obtainable goals, less hours, and better pay. The National BSA is currently like a boat heading up the river without a paddle or direction which will end up sinking along the way. The animosity between professional scouters and the volunteers continues to get worse and worse and many unit leaders now just ignore council and FOS campaigns. When will they ever learn you can't beat your volunteers into submission. Many of the DE's they are hiring these days have had fairly unsuccessful careers, little commitment to making the scouting program successful in their districts, and their only goal is to get promoted to a position at National ASAP.

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1st DE was a good guy and worked hard to include everyone on information about changes in policy, events, you name it. He left for a "real" job where he would actually be able to see his family (as luck would have it, he produced two daughters, not son's and BSA kept him away from all their events.)

2nd DE was also really good and working with everyone IMO; unfortunately she was a "she." The district committee and camping committee wouldn't allow her to attend any of the meetings which made it very hard to do her job. The good old boys may not have liked her, but the rest of us volunteers did.

3rd DE was one of the "good old boys." He would only give information about district events, policy changes, etc to certain units whose leaders were part of the club. Left the rest of us in the dark on most things and treated BSA like his private playground. (This guy even wanted to eliminate the Med Shack at camp, in place of moving the building to the top of the property to be used as a warming hut for District committee snowmobile retreats in the winter months.)

4th DE The district committee decided we didn't need a DE and told council that, so we ended up with one of the secretaries from their office who doesn't actually do any DE duties; she's lets the district committee pretty much do what ever they want, doesn't attend any district meetings, nothing. She's just a place to drop off forms.

What is a DE supposed to do for my unit ? What am I supposed to for him ? I know ours is being worked like a dog this summer running camps. One 24 hour slot off a week. Seems like a nice guy, but we are in a big district. Doubt I will have much interaction with him.

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Are supposed to raise money for him so he gets his bonus based on hitting his Friends of Scouting goals.
YOU are supposed to take time off work and go to your schools and do your boy talks,
YOU are supposed to recruit more boys and retain them.
YOU are supposed to sell popcorn or participate in council and district fundraisers.
YOU are supposed to fill out your Journey to Excellence form and turn it in with your charter. DE and SE bonus's are based on these.....

My DE, has never done anything for me other than show up to collect apps and fees at sign up night.

I hear that some Councils provide yard signs, flyers and the DE's do the boy talks.
I have asked for flyers for sign up nights, no
I have asked for help with membership fees, no
I have asked for Uniforming, no

Honestly, I could never do the job of a DE....To many conflicting goals......Increase membership, increase FOS and donation revenue.....Help units put on programs........

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Talk about blocking out memorys.....Number 2 is the one that misled me when I was Program Director for our cub day camp........I am still out nearly a grand on that deal. Fronted the money turned in the expense report and it was lost.

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we didnt have a de when i started.... just lost our DE after about a year. Heard he left and went into sales. Really nice younger guy, eagle.... He'll do well
Our loss
Think his boss is running people off

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I consider myself lucky on this one. All districts in my council have two executives: The DE and a Quality Unit Executive. The QUE is a new position being trialed at a few councils specifically to deal with Cub units. Until last year, my district was one of the few with a QUE. Last summer, they hired QUEs for all of the districts.

In the past 3 years, we've had the revolving door of DEs. My current one is the record at 14 months. I dropped in at council earlier this week, and based on my conversation with him I wonder if he'll make it to 15 months.

Most of the time, we've lost DEs to internal transfers to other districts, which is strange. (The exception is our prior DE who absolutely blew his FOS goal out of the water because of his personal passion and belief in the program. He's now Development Director for the council.) We'll be getting a new SE this fall, so it will be interesting to see how things change when he arrives in September.

My QUE on the other hand has been there since I arrived. He had been a volunteer in the District, and was offered a generous early retirement package at his company when the council was trying to fill the first QUE position. He's in his 50's, has at least 1 son in the program, and absolutely lives the program. He's got no ambitions to move up within the BSA's ranks for now, so he's a wonderful resource. Supposedly the QUE program is getting ready to be rolled out nationally.

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A fellow who did nothing and could not speak in public and was horribly timid and could not look you in the eye when speaking to him.....he was fired last summer.

Now we have a young gal......Looks good so far. She has delivered on what has been asked and can look you in the eye when speaking to you. She will be promoted and we will be stuck with the second string again.

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Yeah, Basement, we're in the same situation now since at least the past two years. Two SEs, 3 DEs, and several other shifts in pro Scouters. I've made my peace with it and just run my unit the best I can with the little resources I have. But what's very disappointing is that our interim DE has done the boy talks...in other districts. They seem to be recruiting Cubs in areas all around the city where I live. There is one local pack that won't recharter in December and the one we typically draw from for new Boy Scouts is down to the bare minimum. The future of my Troop is in jeopardy and I don't know what else I can do...Maybe that new DE will have answers!

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It's always been my understanding that a DE's job is 3-fold. More money, more youth and more units. In that order. Everything else program-related is supposed to be done by volunteers. Unfortunately, many District volunteer positions go vacant or are filled with "good old boys" with WB beads who like to attend events with a coffee mug hanging from their belt. We always had a "District Chairman" to run the district meetings, but the DE would hand him his agenda as he walked in the door, and not much happened between meetings.

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As for the 3-fold job, I would agree with you, @scoutldr. Our past few DEs definitely made it clear that these were their priorities (well, #1 and #2). I think it goes back to what previous posters have said regarding the goals that are set for DEs. Around here I think pro Scouters have been running away due to the stress of the job. We haven't seen the promotion to other positions so much here, though.

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As a former DE for five years in the same council and districts I can tell you firsthand all National cares about from its pro scouters are MONEY and numbers units and youth being a distant second. The job has its rewards but puts a lot of stress on your marriage and personal life. After five very successful years I felt it was time to move on after having three SE's two of whom were terminated for fiscal mismanagement of council funds and assets. Scouting from the volunteer side I find much more rewarding and satisfying.